In this tutorial I will show you how to using TFS Scrum create Product Backlog Item.
Microsoft has implemented Scrum in TFS in very specific way therefore there are several things you should know before you can use the tool itself and I will mention them in this blog post.
What is TFS Scrum Product Backlog Items
Let's start from the very beginning. In Scrum you create Items that someone requested. Items are not related to development but the solution itself so they are called Product Items. Before Items enter development stage you need to store and manage them and you do that by having "Backlog" so Product Backlog Items (PBI) are items that someone requested but they haven't been assigned for development (not assigned to specific Sprint).
In TFS you create Product Backlog Item but you actually fill in some fields and leave the rest blank as they are filled in at later stage.
I'm using Web version of TFS Scrum and click New Button and select Product Backlog Item
In my case I will go with something very simple. Let's say I want to create an article so I fill in:
Title - Which is simply the name of the PBI
Iteration - In my case it is KatieAndEmil, in your case it will be something else BUT important thing is to leave it as it is without choosing iterations! The reason behind it is that if you leave it as it is it will remain in Production Backlog but if you assign it to a sprint it will actually move to Sprint Backlog and we will discuss how to move it to Sprint Backlog later on!
NOTE: In most cases you create PBI first without assigning it to a Sprint. This is standard process in Scrum.
Assigned To - You should choose Product Owner. If you have more than one Product Owners than choose the most suitable person.
State - When you create new PBI only NEW state is available. When you save PBI you will than be able to change status and we discuss in another blog post.
Details:
Backlog Priority - You can use your own scale but 1 is the most important. The reason why it is 1000 is because if you didn't feel it in than It would appear on your reports at the top which is generally not desired behaviour. You can leave it as 1000 and update at later point.
Effort - Leave it blank as generally this is filled in when Scrum team makes estimations and we will do that later on.
Business Value - You can put Integer value only. So you can create scale of 1 (imporant) to 10 (nice to have).
Area - Depending on how you set it up you can choose Area but generally I use Area only for Tasks which we will discuss later on.
The bottom part where you put all your details. In our case it is very simple paragraph but usually this would contain some kind of requirements statement or documents or some other attachments. You should provide all necessary details at this stage as Scrum team will have to provide estimation and needs the details.
I Clicked Save and Close and new PBI has been created.
Below I clicked Product Backlog and I can see my new item.
Take care
Emil